Seeing a big bite seemingly taken out of the sun is 鈥減robably the coolest thing I鈥檝e seen,鈥� said 10-year-old Solan Banke.
The student was one of hundreds of people who enjoyed watching Monday鈥檚 partial solar eclipse over the noon-hour from behind the Kerry Wood Nature Centre. Red Deerians of all ages gathered in the sunny weather to watch the rare event unfold overhead as the moon partially covered the sun in its orbit.
This surge of public interest was 鈥渆xtraordinary,鈥� observed nature centre volunteer David Mathias. Red Deer was far off the 鈥減ath of totality鈥� that stretched from Mexico to Newfoundland, so only about a third of the sun was obscured by the moon.
Yet the nature centre still had sold out of about 400 pairs of $2.50 eclipse glasses by mid-morning.
鈥淭o some degree, we are all still sun worshippers,鈥� concluded Mathias, who was showing the pin-hole method of tracking the eclipse on paper. He believes this event brings into focus how connected and how dependent we are on the sun鈥檚 rays.
鈥滻 think it does speak to something deep inside us. One can imagine what something like this would have meant to the Egyptians,鈥� Mathias added.
Families and friends who gathered for Monday鈥檚 鈥渆clipse party鈥� at the nature centre could view the obscured sun in different ways 鈥� through eclipse glasses (which block out harmful ultraviolet rays); through various handmade pin-hole cameras made from cereal boxes and or binoculars; or through light reflected from centre telescopes.
Kathryn Huedepohl, special events programmer at the nature centre, amazed onlookers by demonstrating how sunlight pouring out of a viewing scope was scorching enough to set a crayon smoking.
Folks could also peer at the sun through a large, filtered telescope, 12-inch in width and five feet in length. Kids and their parents marvelled at how two small sun spots 鈥� so tiny they could be mistaken for lint 鈥� were comparable to how the Earth would look in comparison to the massive sun. Thomas Wooff, the centre鈥檚 technician, said it would take more than a million Earths to fill the sun鈥檚 volume.
It was a great science lesson for Monica Trom鈥檚 two home-schooled daughters, who brought homemade pin-hole cameras. 鈥淚t鈥檚 excellent. They are learning about the solar system and how lenses work,鈥� said Trom.
Some people expressed disappointment the local school districts were not allowing students outside to watch the eclipse as it could damage their eyes. Instead they were watching it indoors on the internet.
Retired teacher Sylvia Kennedy opted to pull her 18-year-old son out of class to watch it in person through eclipse glasses. 鈥淚 think the closer we are to nature the better off we are,鈥� she explained.
Ula Wiebe taught her preschooler about the eclipse from a YouTube video before bringing the child to the centre. Having seen a near total eclipse in Poland as a child 1999, Wiebe recalled the event was 鈥渧ery exciting鈥� and impactful.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite an experience, agreed Evelyn Kheong, who, with her friend Cindy Kuiper, enjoyed watching a small wedge of shadow over the sun get 鈥渂igger and bigger.鈥�
Todd Nivens, executive-director of the Waskasoo Environmental Education Society, was thrilled with all the public interest. He feels the eclipse was a positive experience that helped bring people together. 鈥淓veryone can talk about it鈥� it鈥檚 cool and you don鈥檛 get to see it often.鈥�
A better view for Red Deerians won鈥檛 be available until August 22, 2044, when most of Alberta will be in the path of totality of a solar eclipse.
